Thursday, October 31, 2013

In a couple of days, millions of Hindus across the world will celebrate, Diwali - Festival of Lights.
Milk and milk based products such as ghee , butter, paneer(Indian cottage cheese) , are used to make sweets. It's time to share sweets with family and friends.

According to Ayurveda(India's traditional medical science), milk and milk product such as ghee,
belongs to Sattvic (Goodness), group. According to Ayurveda, Sattvic food, such as fruits, vegetables, freshly cookes beans and lentils ,and milk promotes spiritual growth and guides people to follow the right path. Sattvic food is also known as ahimsa food(non-violence).

Unfotunately , the condition of milk producing cows in India and across the world is filled with pain
and suffering . In India, cows are induced with oxytocin harmone to produce more milk. In western countries, cows are repeatedly impregnated so that cows keep producing milk for a long time.
In short, cows are treated as "milking machines" .

In this day and age, milk and ghee no longer belong to Sattvic food. Milk and milk products such
as ghee and yogurt belong to "Tamasic foods", which is the result of non-violence. Meat , fish and eggs belong to Tamasic food group.

In this day and age, milk and ghee, no longer promotes spiritual growth.

I'm a vegan and I enjoy Diwali by making vegan sweets. I feel so happy to see my family and friends
relish my vegan burfis, kheers and halwas.

You too can make delicious sweets without using milk , ghee and butter. Visit Vaishali's blog holy cow to find vegan recipes
for carrot halwa, burfis , firni , adhirasam , and many more mouth-watering recipes.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Show me the Curry, is a classic Indian cooking website with many vegan recipes. You can find recipes for curries , rice dishes , pickles and chutneys , and desserts.

Hetal Jannu and Anuja Balasubramanian are the ladies for the amazing Show me the curry website.
If you like Indian food, then this website can be a great guide. If you are a vegan and like Indian food, then you will find many vegan recipes for rice dishes, snacks, and curries. Howerver, most of the desserts are milk based. For vegan Indian desserts visit Richa's blog

My son no longer taking boring bread and jam sandwich to school. Every day I
make simple rice based dish for his lunch box. I have made spinach and carrots pullao and methi pullao a couple of times. Both these rice dishes were easy to make and tasted great!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

I love to eat warm halwa when the temperature drops down. Halwas are Indian dessert made with milk and sugar. If you are a vegan, you can eat many dishes in Indian restaurant, but you can never eat carrot halwa, as they are made with milk and khoya(similar to whey)

I recently made beetroot halwa by following Shilpa's recipe in aayi's blog . I used canola oil to saute the beets and used vegan sugar -sugar in the raw , to make this delicious halwa. The halwa was so tasty and if you have food processor, you can make this halwa in a snap.

I also made lauki halwa (opo squash) along the same lines as beetroot halwa. I used canola oil to saute the grated squash and I garnished the halwa with fried cashewnuts and raisins. The halwa was really so YUM!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Mahatma Gandhi, a great leader was born on October 2 in India, more than a century ago.
Millions of people everyday are inspired by this noble man- Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi achieved his goals through "Non-violence". Mahatma Gandhi worked for
the welfare of people. Mahatma Gandhi worked hard to remove pain and suffering from the community.

Mahatma Gandhi led a simple life. He ate simple vegetarian food. Gandhi had a strong
disgust for cow's milk when he came to know that cows and buffalos were subjected to a
cruel process, known as Phooka, to increase the production of milk. These days, in India,
many farmers inject the cows with oxytocin drug to increase the production of milk.
Read this for more information .

If Gandhi was alive, he would be very sad seeing the horrible condition of cows across India.
I'm sure Gandhi would eat vegan food and advocate vegan diet, as ahimsa diet (cruel-free diet).